Breaking Point
by UnknownInkStain
Summary: Crossover with Corpse Party. Kuronuma, Kazehaya, and their friends plummet into the forsaken parallel plane of Heavenly Host Elementary as their oncoming graduation influences the conduct of an eternal friendship charm. With betrayal, regret, and evil claiming the lives of trapped souls, only love will provide the light in the darkness as Sawako is pushed to the breaking point.
1. Eternal Friendship

**Be warned, this is my first crossover type story. The crossover is between Kimi Ni Todoke and Corpse Party. If a significantly darker setting filled with despair and casualties isn't to your forte, I'd suggest discontinuing at this point and finding another story. If you're curious about seeing what may happen in this forsaken evil parallel dimension, stick around, and witness what happens when characters, some of the purest of morals...are pushed past the breaking point.**

Graduation was nearing. Just a few more months left. All those years we had spent together, they seemed so short and flew too fast. Ayane-chan, Chizu-chan, Sanada-kun, Miura-kun, Kurumi-chan, and...Kazehaya-kun...our paths had been parallel for these bright past few years. I thought they'd last forever back then, but now as the end draws near...

A sharp pain was felt in my chest.

I hoped our paths would stay intertwined forever, but would they soon be separating? I want to stay with them forever, and didn't want to separate. Universities in far off cities, Sapporo, Tokyo...some staying here, some studying abroad, I don't want to separate!

"Kuronuma," a warm voice came from behind me, "you're tearing up again."

I turned around quickly. "Kazehaya..kun.." He was right, tears were starting to form and stream down my cheek.

He wiped the tears from my cheeks. "Thinking about the end of school again?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Kuronuma, it'll be alright. I'll always be with you..." he pulled me into a tight hug. "..and I'm never leaving."

Returning the embrace, I decided to elaborate. "I know..and I will always be with you too, Kazehaya-kun..but, everyone else... Chizu-chan, Ayane-chan...it's possible I'd never see them again-"

"That's wrong! They are your friends, Kuronuma, they'd never abandon you like that. You're too valuable to them- to us to abandon!" He wiped away more tears and looked me in the eyes with a warm smile, "It'll be okay, Sawako, it's only the tail end of winter, spring is literally in a few days. We still have a good amount of time together, and the times won't end with graduation."

Kazehaya-kun, always there with me in both good times and bad. This is why I loved him. It is selfish of me to think this, but... Kazehaya-kun, above everyone else, I didn't want to lose him ever.

"Kazehaya-kun, if you don't mind could you meet with me and everyone else after school tomorrow in the class room?"

"Um, sure. Something up?"

"Well, I just want to do this small ritual I found. It probably won't do anything, but I'd like to conduct it anyway. It's not scary at all, no herbs or potions, just paper. I not impose on you all too much."

"Kuronuma, it's fine, I don't mind at all. I'll get everyone else to go too."

"Yokatta! It's a charm I found to be friends forever."

"Interesting. Yeah. I'll be there!"

"Mm! See you tomorrow, Kazehaya-kun!"

We shared one last hug and split paths. Til tomorrow, Kazehaya-kun.

I looked back on the instructions on my phone after Kazehaya was gone.

"Naho's Nods to the Netherworld - Personnal Blog of Naho Saenoki, High School Paranormalist, Medium, and Author"

A paper charm cut out in the shape of a simply cut stick figure was pulled from my bag. The winds increased strength slightly.

Ayane-chan would sure be impressed at my ghost story/ritual skills for sure!


	2. Descent

"Sawako, are you sure of this? This is the oddest ritual I've heard of," Ayane skeptisized.

"Ayane, let Sawako do her ritual! This is kinda of interesting," Chizuru exclaimed.

"Now, now, I'm sure Sawako-chan will guide us through this ritual flawlessly, right Sawako-chan?" Kent Miura was as bright and cheery as usual.

"Y-yeah. I'll do my best!" Sawako, even with such a small ritual was determined not to fail.

"Go for it, Kuronuma, we're all here for you," Kazehaya smiled.

Kurumi had just pulled up Naho's blog on her phone. "Some instruction. This medium...Saenoki-san? She didn't even provide a follow up. This is the last post on her blog! It was published a couple of years ago! She must be a fake! Just seeking attention and failing. This is a hoax."

"I don't know Kurumi-chan... Naho Saenoki...the name rings a bell," Ayane said pulling out her phone,"I swear I've heard it before... Ah! Here it is!"

Ayane, pulled up an online news article from a few years back. The bespectacled school girl from Paulownia Academy High School was seen on the captioned image with a book published by her about spiritual encounters.

"Apparently, she is a credited writer in supernatural encounters. Her words may hold some substance... She hasn't been active ever since though, how odd," Ayane explained.

"Yeah yeah, supernatural this and that, now come on! I wanna go have a nice bowl of ramen later!" Chizuru's energy was through the roof.

"Yeah let's begin, Kuronuma, it's all yours," Kazehaya finalized.

Everyone took a hold of the paper charm as Sawako explained the directions.

"It's not much, but I hope to stay friends with you all forever," Kuronuma said one last time after finishing instruction.

"Sachiko we beg of you," the group of friends and lovers began, "Sachiko we beg of you. Sachiko we beg of you!"

On the final chant the group simultaneously pulled apart the charm doll, each having a piece in their hand.

Ryu sighed. Everyone else seemed plain. As if to non-verbally say, "Well that was anti-climactic."

"I hope we'll stay like this forever," Sawako concluded, "keep your pieces with you."

"Yeah! Now let's go get some ramen! I'm starving," Chizuru exclaimed, "Ore? Did it get darker outside?"

As everyone began to mingle about the classroom Kazehaya went up to Kuronuma. "Guess this'll be another memory for the memory book. Another memory with you, Sawako."

"Mm! With you, Kazehaya-kun."

Intense rattling was heard opposite the couple by the door.

"Stupid door...won't open," Chizuru struggled.

Miura brushed her aside,"Chizu-chan, sometimes you have to be gentle with things."

He attempted to gently pull open the sliding door to no affect. Increasing in strength with every jerking motion. "Well now, this door is kind of tough," he struggled, "almost as if it was just a fixture of the wall!"

"You have to be gentle with things.." Chizuru mocked.

Suddenly, the ground shook! The classroom was rattled back and forth in a quake of severe magnitude! Kitahoro High School was at the epicenter of a sudden earthquake!

Everyone rushed for shelter!

"Kuronuma! Get down!" Kazehaya pushed her flat to the ground and covered her with his body. If rubble was to fall, it'd have to hit him instead of her.

Everyone else grabbed for desk legs, and table tops.

A huge gaping hole in the floor split open and everyone plunged into the darkness of its depths!

Sawako and Kazehaya fell farther and farther into the hole, along with everyone else. Sawako, deep in Kazehaya's warm embrace was petrified during the decent into an almost tangible blackness. She couldn't see Kazehaya who she held in close embrace. In fact, without prior knowledge, she wouldn't even be able to visibly tell who she was hugging on to.

Through bodily contact though, she was assured. She knew who she was with, by the temperature of his skin and breath.

In the darkness, she had lost all sensation as her eyes slowly closed. No other screams were audible, it was just silence and the warmth of Kazehaya's body.

BOOM! They landed on a hard wooden floor.

Their orientation had changed somewhere in the descent as Sawako was now laying on Kazehaya's chest.

Shouta coughed and sputtered from the impact, the air knocked out of him. Sawako quickly rolled off asking urgently,"Are you alright? I'm sorry, Kazehaya-kun."

Kazehaya coughed,"No no, it's alright," he struggled,"just a little winded that's all."

The couple sat up and looked around.

The classroom was definitely different and run down. Nothing was familiar. Decaying wood, shattered windows, deteriorating chalkboard, and poor lighting.

"Where are we?" Kazehaya questioned, "Where is everyone else?"

"Chizu-chan? Ayane-chan? Kurumi-chan? Master?" Sawako called about. No reply.

"Come on, Kuronuma, we gotta find out where we are then find them."

She took Kazehaya's hand and stood up.

The desks were scattered in a clutter around the room. They were old, like, from another era old, but most notably, they were small. Really small compared to the high school desks of homeroom.

"Is this an elementary school? These desks are for little children," Kazehaya spoke. "How did we get here?"

Sawako turned as she saw a figure in the corner of her eye. By the front door, a bespectacled girl wearing a blue skirt, red blazer, and maroon tie, stood. There was a pentagram pin in her hair.

"You two...the lovers," she spoke."S-Saenoki-san?" Sawako's memory remembered her picture. "You're the author and supernaturalist!"

"That was me, in the past life..."

"Past?"

"Nevermind," she sighed,"I had someone I loved, just as you two towards each other. I'd do anything for him. Anything." A slight laugh came from her,"You two have a lot to experience coming your way. Let's just say...your love...your friendships...they'll all be tested."

"Where are we?" Kazehaya asked.

"Heavenly Host Elementary School. You all have a big of history to learn about this place," she responded.

From her blazer pocket, she pulled what appeared to be a cut from a worn newspaper, holding it up between her two fingers.

She turned to Sawako for a final note.

"Kuronuma-san, I see. You seem- No- You are so kind hearted I presume."

Sawako nodded her head. "One good deed a day is my belief," she stated.

"So pure...hmhm, but...I can see a similarity between us, Kuronuma-san... Listen, both of you, this place, this school, this realm, this hell. It changes people..for the worst. I wouldn't trust anyone if I were you. Beware of people close by...but be even more aware of those closest to you..."

Naho released the paper and it fluttered towards the couple, landing at the point of Sawako's shoes.

The couple reached down to grab the newspaper article, and stood back up to ask more questions tothe spirit medium. However, upon standing back, they realized she was gone. Vanished, without the sound of any footsteps against the wood floor.

The news paper article read:

"Heavenly Host Elementary Demolished After Series of Murders and Kidnappings. Nov. 18, 1975"

"If it was demolished...in 1975...how are we in it?!" Kazehaya questioned

The door creaked open into a dark hallway.


	3. Fair Warning

A young girl thrust open the door to the classroom. She was adorned with a bloodied navy blue sailor uniform with orange naval piping lines and an orange and blue plaid pleated skirt. She tightly grasped a bloodied pair of rusty scissors and had the look of no sanity in her eyes. A crooked smile was slit from ear to ear as she looked, predatory-like, at the innocent high school couple.

"Maybe- If I kill enough," she laughed eerily, "I can earn my way out of here! HEHEHEHE! WITH BLOOD!"

She began to run towards Kazehaya and Sawako like a locomotive accelerating down rails. Kazehaya instinctively positioned himself in between the girl and Sawako ready to block and fend of the assailant. He was sure he was going to get it, but he wasn't going to let Sawako get hurt, or killed! Suddenly, another female student, wearing a navy blue blazer with a yellow tie and solid gray skirt, slingshotted through the open door in pursuit. She wielded a bloodied wooden baseball bat, dented, and coiled with barbed wire and had a similar murderous look on her face. Kazehaya squinted his eyes and gritted his teeth, now certain they were going to be killed. He heard an outburst of effort from the girl who wielded the bat as she grunted in a force of strength. Whack! She struck a forceful blow to the back of the first girl's head. Blood cast off across Kazehaya's shirt, staining streaks red. The assailant fell flat on her face, bleeding heavily from the trauma wound aft her head. Despite, the home run status blow, she still fought to try to get up, still grasping the rusted pair of iron scissors, looking up almost mockingly at Sawako's shocked innocent face and Kazehaya's determined strong face. "Ha...ha..ha," she managed, "you two..are pathetic... Down here, nothing will save you, not even your disgusting love for each other!" She was gesturing to make a thrust with the scissors when the bat once again came crashing down upon her. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Cast off splashed across Kazehaya's shirt and Sawako's skirt and blazer.

"Shut. Up." the other girl finished, wiping the blood from her neck.

Kazehaya still stood to defend Sawako from this other girl.

"W-What was that?! You killed her!" Kazehaya comfronted, becoming

convinced she would not harm them.

"That," she replied, "was me saving your lives. She had done the same to me and had killed my best friend and my boyfriend a few days back. Or hours. Or weeks. Or months. I've lost track of time since I've gotten into this hell."

"Violence is never the answer!" Sawako exclaimed.

"That's what I used to believe..."

She held up a wrinkled white ribbon from her pocket. Was it hers? Or a friends perhaps?

"...but this place...it changes people... More specifically people, demons, like HER change people.. If you were smart, you'd start getting accustomed to it."

She pried the bloodied pair of scissors from the dead girl's hand. Trying to hand it to a startled Sawako held no avail, so she passed it on to Kazehaya, who also denied the gesture.

"Hm. You are so innocent. So pure. I was once like you. Student council president, always wanting to help everyone. Never resorting to violence. But I warn you. Either you die from the dehumanized monsters that roam the infinite halls of this domain...or live to see yourself become one. Even you must have a breaking point! Even you!"

She dropped the scissors before Sawako. The rattled and bounced before her feet.

"Something will change you. Maybe not now, but sometime even you will become lethal," she chuckled,"It's always the quiet ones- Even you will have something to break your composure and your peaceful nature! And when it does, you will become so sinister, even I'd be terrified of you. I suggest you keep those. Many disturbed souls roam these halls."

She turned and started out of the room. "Best of luck to you both."

She closed the door behind her turned down the dark haul.

Kazehaya followed with a ton of unanswered questions, but when he opened the door, she had vanished without a trace.

He darted back to Sawako.

"Kazehaya-kun! Shouta! What's going on?"

"I don't know Kuronuma-san! But we must be very careful. We have to try and find the others. Maybe then we can try to situate ourselves and get out of here."

"I never meant for any of this to happen, it's all my fault!"

"No, no," he held her hands,"It's not your fault, I know you never meant for this to happen. Whatever happens, I love you."

He pocketed the pair of scissors.

We must go and look for the others!

The couple started down the hall cautiously. Kazehaya was sure not to rush around any corner and always checked around before taking any turns.

Around the next corner was the school's medical office. Kazehaya peeked around the corner and could see the door down the hall about the length from home base to first.

"We could make a run for it," Kazehaya suggested.

Sawako noticed a beautiful yet eerie, in its own way, flowers growing out of a crevice in the wall. An orchid like plant, red with streaks of yellow.

"Kazehaya look! Beautiful isn't it? Although, it's beauty isnt indicative of its true potential. Those streak patterns of the yellow indicate it's a poisonous flower, and a really strong one by the look of it. Risky enough to touch alone, but deadly when consumed."

"It is beautiful Kuronuma-san. Wait-shhhh"

Kazehaya looked around to the nurse's office. Another girl student, donning a blue and white sailor uniform with a red neckerchief stumbled to the door, desperately trying to pry it open. Trailing her, a male student wearing a black gakuran grabbed her and pinned her to the door, stabbing her with a sharpened piece of steel. As she crumpled to the ground, he began to realize the aftermath of his action as if awakening from a trance. Screeming and wailing, he drove the jagged metal bar through his own midsection, soon crumpling to the floor and bleeding out.

The door slowly creaked open after the action had ceased.

"Okay, I think we're safe. We have to make a move to that office, we could probably secure some medical supplies that should aid us should one of us get hurt. Let's go."

The couple dashed to the office, stepping around the two bodies laid across the hall.

"You look around, I'll stand guard out here," Kazehaya prompted.

"Okay, be careful," Sawako relied.

"Mm, likewise."

Sawako took but two steps into the office when suddenly, the door behind her slammed shut in a furious instant on its own. She could no longer hear Kazehaya outside.

"Kazehaya-kun!" Sawako pounded on the door!

"He can't hear you. I actually doubt he's even still there. Well, he may still be there but on a different plain of reality," a voice sounded from within the room.

"Huh?" Sawako slowly turned towards the direction of the voice. In the opposite corner of the room, crouched another high school girl. Generic sailor uniform with a yellow neckerchief.

"Nice to meet you, you're not going to hurt me are you?" she timidly asked.

"No, no of course not," Sawako affirmed, "nice to meet another friendly person, I'm Sawako Kuronuma, p-pleasure to meet you," she shakily extended.

"Likewise! I'm Ayumi Shinozaki."


	4. Separation

"It's good to see another face," Sawako expressed relief.

"Indeed it is," Ayumi commented, "this place, wherever we are is very…isolating."

"We're from Kitahoro High School," Kazehaya began, would you happen to know if you've seen anyone else from our school?

"Hmm," Ayumi tried to recollect, "I'm not too familiar with that school. Is your school near the Tokyo area?"

"No, our school is in the north in Hokkaido, near Sapporo," Sawako informed.

"Anyone wearing something similar to what she's wearing?" Kazehaya used his girlfriend in full school uniform and blazer as an example.

Ayumi tried to recollect. A dismayed look soon overtook her face. "Ah…now that I remember..I may have actually," she said in a regretful tone.

"You have?!" Kazehaya outted.

"Yeah, it was a couple of doors ago on the way here, I probably won't be able to get back to that exact spot…but on the way here there was one girl who had been stabbed to death. Just once, so it seems she bled out.." she grimaced.

Sawako gasped and tried to hold back tears to no avail.

"W-Who was it?"

"Chiaki? Chikuru? I can't remember the name well-"

"Chizu-chan?!"

Kazehaya pulled his girlfriend into the tightest embrace he could, as she sobbed heavily into his sweater. The location had really began to take its toll on her severely and it hadn't even been an hour. He felt his heart wrench over as well, just learning that a close friend of his through middle school had just been killed. He couldn't believe it. Kazehaya tried his hardest to keep composure in front of Sawako, but he could catch the few tears that began to stream down his face.

He ran a hand softly through Sawako's long raven hair in one of many efforts of trying to get her to calm down.

"Shinozaki-san, how long ago was that?" Kazehaya asked.

"I-It seemed like a good amount of hours ago…" she replied, feeling really sorry for the guy's girlfriend. She could tell whoever it was had to be a very cherished friend to her.

"Hours ago?" Kazehaya gasped, "It's only been barely one hour!"

Ayumi explained, "This place is a very strange twisted limbo, if you will… Time, passage, existence, people even are distorted. There are multiple planes that this school occupies, parallel ones. Those scissors in your pocket for example, you found them here, but if you went into this same room in another plane, its likely they wouldn't be there. Your other friends could be in this very room where we're talking right now, but we wouldn't be able to interact.."

 _No way_ , Kazehaya thought. That was way to impossible to him to wrap his head around.

"Going through and opening one door may not simply bring you into a different room, but into a very different plane of existence entirely."

"H-How can we find the others?" Sawako finally managed to say through choked tears.

"The only real way is to keep looking," Ayumi regretfully said. "There isn't really another way I can think of."

"I see, thank you for the insight, Shinozaki-san," Kazehaya said.

"Sorry to have to go and leave you two," Ayumi exclaimed, but I too have someone I have to find.

"Yeah, hope you find that person," Sawako exclaimed as Ayumi began to leave the room.

Ayumi couldn't help but envy the loving couple that had been given the luck to be placed together amid all this madness.

"Be careful of who you encounter, this place turns people into anything but their normal selves…I had a friend who had been claimed by the darkness and had succumbed to madness..I hope this not happen to either of you. Love is strongest in the dark, keep each other close."

With this she turned and entered a door just across the hall.

The couple went to try to follow, but opening the door, Ayumi too was gone.

"We should probably find the others, Kuronuma, the faster we find them the faster we can try to get out of here."

She nodded in agreement. Another one of the poisonous orchids was poking out from the base of the doors.

The hallway seemed to extend eternally as the walkway never seemed to end. From the low visibility the couple had from the darkness and the occasional lightning strike from outside in the never ceasing rain, the hall way just seemed to keep going and going. If this was truly an elementary school, the halls certainly wouldn't be this long with so many rooms. Were they going in circles?

Sawako kept a firm grasp on the trailing end of Kazehaya's sweater as she timidly followed. Yes, Kazehaya was absolutely terrified at what lay just ahead or in the next room, and no it really did not help the fact that he seriously had to use the bathroom, but Sawako holding onto him for courage certainly did have its affect and allowed him to carry on with the façade that he was capable and courageous. He knew this to be far from the truth, but at this point he couldn't help himself. Despite this being a very lowly dreary and evil situation, he couldn't help but feel a glow of confidence and almost a sort of arrogance in being looked to for strength and support. The couple, affectionate, loving, and reliant on one another, was still just as hopeless as they were before all this.

As they passed one of the classrooms, something caught Sawako's eye. Through the dirtied window, Sawako sighted a bright maroon tea pot and set of cups, sitting center atop one of the desks. Such a beautiful tea arrangement amid all this evil. It brought a sense of comfort to her seeing it and reminded her of all the teas she had made for others, family, friends, and lover, of various herbs and leaves. She remembered the garden plot at her high school of all the various leaves and different cures for different ailments they provided.

Suddenly a door was thrust open violently in the darkness and running footsteps were heard approaching. There was a table just to their left by the windows. Kazehaya instinctively hurried his girlfriend beneath in an effort to hastily hide her. Reaching for the pair of steel scissors in his rear pocket, he made ready for whoever, whatever, approached.

"Kazehaya!" a familiar voice called out.

From the darkness, Yano emerged and crashed into the arms of Kazehaya who had just withdrew his scissors in time as to not harm her.

"Ayane-san!" Kazehaya exclaimed.

"K-Kazehaya," she gasped desperately trying to catch her breath, "We-We have to go! We have to run now!," she rushed while pulling in his sweater in an effort to get him to follow.

"W-What's wrong?" Kazehaya exclaimed.

"There's no time we have to go! This door should take us somewhere-"

Ayane tugged at the door opening to reveal a hallway.

"Ayane, slow down-"

"No! We can't we have to go and find Sawako! She's- She's lost it, that psychopathic blond lost it! She killed Chizu and Kento!"

"Ah! Wait!"

The door down the hall was heard thrusted open yet again and deranged laughter could be heard followed by unsteady running.

Ayane pushed Kazehaya into the hallway and shut the door.

The girl had just arrived at the spot they had just been standing in in the very next moment.

Sawako could not make out who it was but felt like she knew of them before. She could make out the silhouette of a knife in her hand. The pursuer turned to the door, through it open, stepped in, and shut it behind her.

Sawako was alone.


	5. Reaching You

Timidly, Sawako got up and stood herself before the door the three had passed into. There should be a hallway on the other side. School doors typically weren't thick, especially these old wooden ones. She wondered why nothing could be head on the other side. No sound. No sign of a struggle. No footsteps.

She gripped the handle with both hands and tugged at the door, trying to pry it open. The door wouldn't move, it was as if it were a fixture on the wall. She didn't turn away though, with pain beginning to well up in her chest, she kept hopelessly tugging at the door.

Suddenly, the door flew open slamming against the end of its rail track, revealing a desolate and epty classroom. No hallway. Kazehaya and Ayane were gone and she was all alone.

She stumbled a step or two back from the doorway in shock.

 _Kazehaya-kun… Ayane-san… I-I can't do this alone! I don't know what to do!_

Tears welled up in Sawako's eyes. She quickly wiped them away this time. She began to become concerned that any further long episodes of crying would bring about dehydration.

A glint of metal caught her eye. There, resting on the floor lay the same rusted, partially bloody, pair of steel scissors tossed to Kazehaya that he carried as a precaution.

She didn't see the value in carrying the pair, and she questioned why, but she found herself picking up and pocketing the cutting tool in her skirt pocket. Questioning her action, she shrugged it for the fact that she may need to cut something later on.

She headed way down the long hallway coming up to an intersection of a hallway. She turned right and headed into the school.

The walls of the school's halls were black with all sorts of dirt, grime, stains, and residue. Traces of dried blood in small and large doses stained the floor; some puddles hadn't dried fully and were still fresh. In her timid and unsteady walkthrough, Sawako stumbled on some object strewn across the floor. Looking down and lifting her foot, she found the 'objects in actuality to be bone fragments, and the hallway section was littered with them.

She gasped and quivered at the sight, but had no choice but to keep going ahead. She had to find Kazehaya and Ayane. They were the only two foundations of sanity she had left in this twisted place. Sawako was typically well independent as she had been for the many years of shunning and isolation, however now that she had become accustom to having someone support her, someone to care for her, and love her, now that she had friends, suddenly being separated in such vicious conditions really took their toll. Heavenly Host Elementary School was definitely having a crushing effect on Sawako. Scared, alone, and needing support, her once bright persona has taken heavy hits.

What is to fill the void forming, could very well be sinister, but Sawako tried her hardest to cling to her sanity. She focused on finding Kazehaya. All she wanted to do was collapse into his arms, knowing he was safe.

A door suddenly flew open behind her. She turned around, catching the silhouette shadow of a boy student with what seemed to be a baseball bat. He panted as he regained his footing, all while catching sight of Sawako.

" _It's all a game isn't it? Some sick twisted game, just like Battle Royale isn't it?! If I am the last one standing, then I win and get to go home! Home to my family, to my mom! If I must, I will be the last one standing!"_ He rambled making ready to charge.

He ran toward her with all his remaining energy pent up and took a really hard swing with the bat. Sawako instinctively ducked causing him to hit the wall instead, shattering the severely beaten wooden bat. The unnamed assailant threw down what was left of the blunt weapon and rushed to overpower her. Sawako had much pent up energy and was much stronger than she would appear. The boy out of strength and stamina was no match for what amounts of energy she had unused. She pushed him back and in his stumble, the attacking student tripped over what was a skull, falling to the floor. Quickly however, he was soon backing on his feet and charging again, intent on strangling her. She looked away but was shocked to feel a sharp force on her right hand, followed by a sudden give as her hand thrusted forward. The yelling from her opponent suddenly ceased and he stumbled and stumbled backward. Subconsciously, she had driven the pair of scissors into the attacker's mid-section.

Struggling to out the words he managed, _"You…beat..me… I-If you win..tell my family, they were in my thoughts.."_

She looked at her hands which were soaked in crimson and screamed throwing open the closest door and running through it. Instead of a classroom it was another hall she had stumbled into. Leaning against the wall, Sawako could hear very familiar voices from just down the hall.

"What are you doing? Y-You killed her! What's wrong with you!?"

It was Kazehaya's voice!

She rapidly ran upward to the door and gave it a quick tug. It would not budge. Sawako wiped down the mirror rapidly so she could peer into the room. Kazehaya was wounded on his side; blood stained his blue uniform sweater.

"All you cared about is her. Everything I've done, all that I had to do was all for you! You never noticed…You never even cared. All you cared about is her. Miss perfect with a strong hint of shyness comes in, and she just sweeps you into a wonderful world right?! 'Oh let's do this stupid ritual so we'll all be friends for ever' right? Look at what she has gotten you into! Gotten _us_ into!"

"Ume-san, I think you're overreacting , it's the darkness and the atmosphere, it's getting to you!"

 _Ume? Kurumi-chan?_ Sawako wiped off the window further and it was indeed the bisque doll, Kurumizawa she could see. Same knife she saw prior.

"KAZEHAYA-KUN!" she shouted, but it appeared her voice could not reach him.

"I had loved you for years. Years upon years and never once did you notice? Never once did you even try to see. But one girl, a nobody falls into your life one day and you are blown away. Whisked away from me just as the breeze you are."

"Kurumi wai-"

Kazehaya choked back. The blade plunged deep into his stomach.

 _Eh? Kazehaya…kun.._

Sawako screamed at the sight of her boyfriend mortally wonded.

"SHOUTA!" she cried.

He seemed to be alerted and look toward the door.

His eyes widened, but then a quaint smile, despite the wound, came across his face.

She had reached him.


	6. Consumed

Sawako collapsed to her knees sobbing heavily. Was she late? Could she have done anything? Was it her fault?

 _Kurumi…she killed him. She- She took him from me!_

The door flew open at the forward end of the classroom. Sawako choked back her sobbing for one quick moment to silence herself. Kurumi did not notice Sawako and turned the corner down the hall. Quietly, Sawako stumbled into the room, rushing to his side.

She took him into her arms, and lay his head in her lap. In his final moments, Kazehaya looked up at his girlfriend's face and smiled. All the darkness around seemed to become irrelevant and fade into the background. Sawako's tears fell onto his face as he took hold of her hand.

He took comfort in seeing his girlfriend, safe, and for a last time beside him.

"S-Sawako. I-I'm glad you're okay," he struggled. "Kurumi- She's dangerous, s-stay away from her and stay safe, Sawako..for me."

He closed his eyes…and he smiled.

In the still darkness of the trashed classroom, Sawako wept softly.

She couldn't control her breathing. Her heartrate went AWOL. The room, her head, her sanity was spinning around rapidly. The dismay the betrayal and the loss completely crushed her spirits.

The void consumed her.

…

…

…

Her tenseness began to wear down. Her hands began to relax their grip and her hands loosened their grip on Kazehaya's hands. Setting Kazehaya gently on the floor, she slowly rose to her feet, dusting down her skirt and wiping down her hands on her jacket. She said, not a word, and uttered not a whimper more. She swept her long black, flowing hair to the side and cleared her face of any loose locks. Everything was in place. The tear stains down her cheeks just seemed to disappear on her façade, her tattered and wrinkled uniform being the only indicator she was ever in distress.

She simply strode down the hallway she had come from, her shoes kicking aside the bone fragments she had walked over earlier and simply stepping the corpse of her attacker, not another look or care.

Hastened running could be heard at the hallway intersection up ahead. She paused in her step and brought her heels together in wait. She stood motionless, hands clasped behind her back with a slight tilt to the right.

" _Ugh, I've been here before!"_

The girl turned the corner. It was Kurumi. She gasped and took a step back upon running into Sawako.

"S-Sawako-chan!" she said in her high pitched cheery voice.

Sawako stood there with a simple but wide grin that was noticeably more defined than her beautiful slight but warm smile she had when tutoring others. This smile was much much more stretched, yet she stood their motionless with a quaint cheery look on her face to Kurumi. Lighting flashed large amounts of white light bringing emphasized black and white across Sawako, even claiming the green of her school uniform.

"Kurumi-chan. It's nice to see a familiar face around."

"Y-Yeah, it's nice," she responded.

Sawako appeared to look at Kurumi, but in reality her thousand yard stare shot straight through her. Ume was genuinely creeped out.

"Kurumi-chan, have you seen the others? I'm especially looking for Kazehaya."

Ume's eyes shot wide open. "N-No, I haven't seen any of them."

"I see." Sawako simply replied.

Ume tried to reach around the waistband of her skirt for a knife handle but found it not there; she had left it in the room.

Sawako moved her hands from behind her back, and pocketed a very familiar bladed object into her skirt pocket, all with a smile, not deviating from Kurumi.

Ume gasped below her breath.

"Kurumi, let's have tea. There was a really pretty tea set a few rooms that way. Meet me there."

Sawako went ahead to the room and disappeared into it.

Kurumi followed.

By the time she had reached the room, Sawako had begun to boil the water set the cups.

"Have a seat," she said not looking away from the teapot. The small fire she had managed to start was warm enough to boil the tea, albeit in a slower manner. Just perfect.

"S-Sawako, how, how have you been holding up in this place?" Kurumi asked cautiously.

"Oh, I've been getting by." She replied, monotone.

Sawako poured two cups. The maroon red cups seemed to glow even amid the dark setting. She handed her the container and hot tea.

"Douzo," she said.

"Arigatou," Kurumi said.

Kurumi took a sip from the tea. It was quite sweet and very flavorful.

"You always made the best tea, Sawako-chan." Kurumi smiled.

Sawako only smiled back in return. A thank you was implied.

Another sip.

"Have you seen the others?" Kurumi asked.

"Ayane, and Kazehaya, they seemed to be running from something. I guess when I got to them…I was too late."

Kurumi was unsettled in how she said all of that maintaining her quaint smile. It never went away to think of it.

"Have you, killed anyone?" Sawako asked in turn.

Kurumi was shocked, mainly because of how blunt Sawako of all people worded the question.

"Of course not," she tried to shrug off.

"He didn't even try to rest you. He didn't fight back, and didn't try to run," Sawako suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"Despite you coming on him with a knife he didn't even run, he tried to talk it out with you because he still considered you a friend."

"And you killed him," Sawako stated, still maintaining her smile, her gaze never once leaving Kurumi.

Sawako Kuronuma began to go beyond creepy to Kurumi, she genuinely began to scare her.

Sawako, wasn't Sawako anymore.

Kurumi began to panic. She noticed reddening on Sawako's hands, almost rash-like.

"W-What happened to your hands?" she questioned.

From the inside of her blazer, Sawako pulled out a red orchid-like flower with yellow streaks.

"W-What did you brew this tea with?!" Kurumi demanded.

Silently looking up to Kurumi with only her eyes, Sawako revealed her cup was completely dry and empty, setting it upside down on the table. A wrenching pain caused Kurumi to clatter to the floor.

It hurt! It hurt like hell, like it was killing everything from within.

Sawako stood up and walked past her to the door.

Standing in the door looking down to Kurumi, she watched as Ume curled up into a position of pain before giving out.

"Sayonara, my rival," she said, closing the door and wandering into the darkness of the school.


End file.
